Parents of gay kids & drinking from poisoned wells

Gay Georgian Daniel Pierce's video of an encounter with family members enraged by his sexual orientation went viral last week --- some 4.5 million views, I believe; and it would be interesting to know the demographics of the audience. Hopefully, quite a few were parents interested in learning how not to behave if one of their kids trusted them enough to come out as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.

This was not, however, a coming-out occasion; Pierce, 19, had told his family he was gay a year ago and while the experience had not been fully positive, it hadn't been this negative either. Some sort of intrafamily religious revival had occurred in the interim and his grandparents, father, stepmother and a sister of the stepmother had gathered to "intervene" --- convince Daniel that he could change his orientation, or as it's sometimes phrased these days, "pray the gay away."

The encounter didn't didn't go well and ended as the "concerned" family started calling the kid names, cussing and finally beating him up --- with camera running.

I'm guessing that a substantial share of the 4.5 million was made up of folks like me; nearly all of us have been through at one time or another conversations like this with family, friends and mentors that may have ended better but always, we feared, carried similar potential. 

It's a daunting task for an insecure kid, of any age, to take on the task of raising his or her parents --- and that's what often happens just because gay kids are born into straight families --- and sometimes it doesn't go well. So we understand this from Daniel's perspective.

But the alternative is to distance one's self from family physically and/or emotionally --- and I've known quite a few gay folks (and straight ones, too) who have maintained that arms-length distance for a lifetime rather than risk rejection or trust love.

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A good deal of the difficulty is based on misunderstanding, and it seems odd that in the 21st century it's still necessary to point out facts of life. Gay kids really are born (created, if you like) this way; most of us have known almost forever (my "aha" moments came at about age 4, although of course I had no idea what it was all about). We can't change the orientation.

Gay folks are not in any sense "sinful" because of their orientation, nor are loving and non-exploitive physical expressions of  their sexuality wicked. We merely are, if you care to phrase it this way, as God made us. It's a life, not a "lifestyle."

Folks who drink from the poisoned wells of fundamentalist and right-wing evangelical Christianity seem to have the most trouble with these facts in western culture.

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Since I'm not straight, all I can do is speculate about what motivates heterosexual families when they're dealing with gay kids.

I'm sure there's an element of fear and concern. Most parents want their kids to be happy and fear that gay folks aren't. While there certainly are challenges, most imposed by a heterosexist culture, that need not be the case. Loving and supporting families are keys to giving kids of any and all orientations a shot at happy and fulfilling lives.

And then there's anger. Some parents have anger issues when it comes to handling the unsurprising fact that children may not share their values, their outlooks, their faith --- or their sexual orientation. In many instances, LGBT kids, through no fault of their own, will inspire anger --- just by being.

The saddest of all, however, may be shame. Parents lash out at their queer kids to one degree or another because they're afraid of what the neighbors, the grandmas and grandpas and the folks next pew over on Sunday morning may say --- the preacher, too.

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I've never been a parent, but I have been a kid --- with very good parents I think --- so I figure that qualifies me to offer a little advice to those who are parents in this confusing day and age.

1. Gay kids are born into heterosexual families, so always remember that this can happen in your family, too. If it does, it's a gift. You cannot change their orientation.

2. Watch what you say. Kids are little people with ears and memories. They will take to heart what you say and remember it. Do what you can to ensure that they do not grow up fearful that there are some things they dare not share with you.

3. If you're drinking from the poisoned wells of fear, anger and shame --- stop it. You're the adults. Behave like it. In other words, grow up.

Touring the Hotel Charitone --- then and now

U.S. Rep Dave Loebsack (D-Iowa City), above right, who represents Iowa's 2nd Congressional District, last toured the Hotel Charitone during April of 2013, when work was just beginning. That's how it looked on that chilly day below.

On Friday, he was back for a tour of the completed project with, among others (top, from left), Alyse, Kris and Raymond. Alyse and Raymond are principals in the Lucas County Preservation Alliance and Hotel Charitone LLC; Kris, Main Street coordinator for Chariton Area Chamber/Main Street.

Once inside, there was time for a little visiting in the restored lobby and bar area of the Hotel Charitone Market Grille (that's Shantel, Chariton Area Chamber/Main Street director on the left), then upstairs to the third floor where Linda and John Braida opened their apartment for a tour.

Ray outlined some of the challenges involved in conforming to Department of the Interior restoration standards when dealing with an historic building. Alyse stressed the importance of the federal historic preservation tax credit program, a major source of funding for projects like the Charitone that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

After a trip down the new fire escape attached to the northeast corner of the building, the party re-entered the Charitone through the resident entrance and returned to the Market Grille for a quick tour of the the main dining room and kitchens, conducted by Greg, restaurant manager.

Before Loebsack and his legislative aide, Dien Judge, left the building, Greg passed around chocolate-covered mints prepared in the candy kitchen at Piper's, just across North Grand Street to the west. The mints are just one of the ways the Market Grille is integrated into the community, Greg said, adding that Copy Plus --- farther down Braden to the west --- produces the wrappings.

National Historic District --- From the air, ca. 1920

Dick Young brought this aerial photograph of the Chariton square to the museum Thursday and that was kind of appropriate. This was the week, too, that the "Lucas County Courthouse Square Historic District" was included on the National Register of Historic Places "List of Action Taken on Properties," distributed by the National Park Service.

Other newly listed properties on the weekly list were the Great Falls Manufacturing Company Newichawannock Canal Historic District in York County, Maine; Bellefontaine Cemetery in St. Louis (one of the great U.S. Cemeteries now catching up to the Chariton Cemetery, listed several years ago); and the Cunningham Round Barn in Vernon County, Wisconsin.

I'm guessing the photo was taken 1921-22, but could probably date it a little more precisely by pulling files on the various gas stations built just after World War I in what now is a National Historic District.

That's the 1917 Post Office in the lower middle of the photo with First Baptist Church to the left and over to the right, St. Andrew's Episcopal Church. If you look carefully, you'll see that the lot on the northeast corner of the square where the Hotel Charitone was built in 1923 still is vacant. Right click and open in a new window to see more detail.

The water tower is to the far left, midway up --- and underneath it you can see the fire station that was replaced by the current City Hall.

I've never been able to date precisely the four-front brick building across South Main from City Hall that now houses Chariton Ford and other businesses, but here you can see that a two-front building with a gabled roof and false front was located at the south end of the lot and what appears to be a big tent, on the other half of the lot just south of the alley.

Although the east, north and west sides of the square are about the same today as they were when this photo was taken, the south was in its glory days. That's the Kubitshek Block to the far left, then a couple of empty lots where wooden buildings had been taken down and the building that now houses Sportsmens Tavern just west of the alley. East of the alley (from left) were the three-story Temple Block (now the one-story Hammer Medical Supply), the triple-front Branner Block and the double-front Dewey Block, still with us on the corner.

Adam and Steve and my family tree

One of the oddities of Genesis is that early editors of that venerable book sustained a computer crash early on and while improvising recovery dropped the "s" and the "t," obscuring the fact it really was Adam and Steve.

As some scholars will tell you, the Big Guy just wanted a little company; and with the guys he had that. Conversation sparkled, the decor excelled, the garden flourished and the cooking was superior --- think Fabulous Beekman Boys.

It was Steve who turned out that Apple pie --- and got the rest of us into trouble.

But it soon became evident that this was too one-dimensional and more than a little boring, so the Creator got to improvising again and pulled a whole new group of people out of his hat --- based on the original models but with variety. There was Max and Helen, Mildred and Sarah --- and quite a few more, other names lost in that formational digital disaster.

This helps to explain why two creation myths, both incomplete, are embedded in holy writ; and also clarifies the messy business of incest that sometimes troubles those who become overly involved with scripture.

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In any case, same-sex marriage is back now --- and I've been wondering how my genealogical software was going cope. I use Family Tree Maker synced to Ancestry.com.

So far as I know, no same-sex couples in my immediate family have tied the knot yet --- and I'm getting a little impatient. It looks like Family Tree Maker will support same-sex marriage with a little jiggering, but I can't be sure how well this will work until a marriage occurs. Unless FTM gets busy, however, it looks like blessed events still will have one parent labeled "mother" and the other "father" --- although both can be of the same gender.

I've thought of creating a mythical couple, then sending it from PC-based program to Web-based program --- just to see what would happen. But there are quite enough imaginary people and invented relationships floating around out there in cyberspace already --- thanks to hack family historians --- and I don't want to risk adding more.

You can get some idea of how the various genealogical programs will cope with same-sex (and other) types of relationships by checking out Wikipedia's comparison charts, here. Just keep in mind that "support" and "accurately reflect" relationships are two different things, so more research will be required.

Also keep in mind that a good deal of the genealogical infrastructure is involved in one way or another with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints whose aged hierarchy is not at all amused by same-sex marriage (polygamy, on the other hand, remains a pleasant memory and future --- eternal --- possibility). So LDS-generated or intimately linked genealogical programs are unlikely to support same-sex relationships.

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Whatever the case, it'll be fun to watch family history software develop as it tries to keep up with "non-traditional" family structures. I'm sure there are developers out there tearing their hair out. In the meantime, just remember that virtually all programs allow notes to be added and documents to be attached --- and these remain the best routes for clarifying relationships and such until the software catches up.

Putting the tall in tallgrass

So I spent most of Tuesday afternoon holding the lawnmower's hand as we chewed through a mix of grass and other growth that had gotten out of control in the back yard because of persistent rain (encourages growth) and extreme heat and humidity (discourages me).

My dream for the back yard involves tallgrass prairie, which neither the neighbors nor the fire department would be likely to approve of (rather than mow it, I'd just burn it every year or so; outbuildings on nearby lots be damned).

So I settled, after putting the mower to bed, for a quick walk around the marsh at sunset to admire some of the grasses that put the "tall" in tallgrass. Excess moisture this year has caused everything down there to shoot for the sky, too, giving credence to the old stories told by pioneers of native prairie grown taller than settlers on horseback.

I'm a big fan of cord grass, displayed here against the sky and then fronting for the first of the maximilian sunflowers, grown strikingly tall this year.

Big blue stem was shooting for the sky along the trail, too.

After the grasses came a spectacular sunset. Not a bad way to end the day.

Rebridging the Blue Grass gap

I'm trying to remember how many years it's been since it was possible to drive directly into and out of Chariton on the Blue Grass Road, which follows the Mormon Trail's route into town from the southeast. Established by Mormon pioneers during the summer of 1846-47, this was the only road into town when Chariton came along during 1849.

The Blue Grass part of this transportation sandwich closed a good many years ago when the old wooden bridge across the Union Pacific railroad tracks failed and was condemned. Detours were established and  a whole generation grew up barely aware of the barricaded bridge.

But now, at last, the bridge is being replaced.

The Blue Grass, obviously, was the first layer established here. When the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad (later C.B.&Q. and now Burlington, Northern & Santa Fe) tracks were laid into town during the summer of 1867, the Blue Grass climbed over on a grade crossing. In 1912-13, the deep cut that the north-south Union Pacific (then Rock Island) tracks follow through town tunneled under both the older rail line and the road (the bridge that failed was built then).

Finally, when the U.S. 34 bypass that curves around Chariton to the south was constructed, the big bridge that soars over it all was built. 

It's going to be a while before the new bridge is complete, but when it is, I think Chariton and Russell should get together and throw a big party right in the middle of it.

The Temple Theatre and a civil rights lawsuit

The three-story Temple Building shows up here just beyond the Ritz in a photo taken in 1929 or early 1930, just before fire destroyed the Temple and gutted the brand new Ritz.

Goats are enjoying a renaissance in the south of Iowa, what with artisan cheese and all, so it was interesting to read the other day in The Chariton Leader of May 20, 1909, that their talents had been long appreciated. 

Editor and publisher Henry Gittinger had attended a performance at the Temple Theatre during the previous week and was able to report that, "The Temple Theatre, on the south side, had some exceptionally strong attractions at the last program. Last week the educated goats elicited great interest. This was the first exhibition of the kind ever seen in Chariton. It is said goats are very stubborn and hard to teach but this herd would do all manner of feats, such as walking tight ropes, rolling balls up inclines and back, forming tableaux, etc."

"The management of late have also been happy in its selection of films for the motion picture features and new attractions come with each change of program," Gittinger continued. "The theatre is large and well ventilated, which adds to the comfort of the audience. They have a new scenic curtain, which gives a tinge of realism to the aspect and which also represents some of the local enterprise of the city."

What's far more interesting about the Temple than its entertainment offerings, however, is that it was the setting for an incident that led to Lucas County's first civil rights lawsuit.

The Temple was located on the first floor of the three-story Temple Building, built jointly during 1902-1903 by Victoria (Branner) Dewey and the Knights of Pynthias on the current Court Street site of Hammer Medical Supply. The Temple burned during 1930. It had been designed by the same architects responsible for the recently burned Younkers Building in downtown Des Moines --- Liebbe, Nourse & Rasmussen.

J.L.H. Todd, of Des Moines, and P.G. Skaggs of Eureka Springs, Missouri, had leased the first floor of the building and opened the new Temple Theatre to the public on April 14, 1909.

Their tenure in Chariton was short-lived, however, most likely because they ran head-on into Iowa civil rights law. Todd, as The Chariton Patriot later described him, was "a southerner, a Virginian, and he has a rigid rule in his theatre against colored people mixing in with whites."

Some time before Henry viewed the educated goats, Chariton resident George "Shock" Knox "purchased a ticket and went into the threatre and took a seat in the audience," Gittinger reported in The Leader of May 13. "As he is supposed to be a negro he was asked to take a seat in that part of the room assigned to colored people. This he refused to do when an officer went to him and asked him to retire from the room, which he did."

Knox promptly filed suit against Todd and Skaggs, asking for $1,000 in damages and citing Iowa's 1884 civil rights act which expressely outlawed discrimination on the basis of race and other factors by a variety of businesses offering public accommodation, including theaters. So far as I know, this was the first civil rights case filed in Lucas County. Knox was represented by attorneys J.H. Campbell and E.H. Storie.

It's not clear what the outcome of the Knox suit was. Todd and Skaggs high-tailed it out of town during June, having sold the theater to Walter Dewey, son of building owner Victoria, and his business partner at the time, R.G. Hatcher. Most likely some sort of settlement had been reached.

It is clear, however, when reading these old Chariton newspapers, that their editors and publishers hardly were advocates for equality. There seems to have been a general acknowledgement that discrimination was justifiably illegal, but no indication that these influential men felt Chariton's black residents were in any sense equal.

Gittinger could be horrifically racist in his writings, for example, when he chose to be. Perhaps his most annoying parlor trick was to compose and publish doggerel about events involving black people in what he imagined black dialect might be. 

Going to Graceland: Honoring Civil War veterans

Robert Killen and William Humphreys, both 96, died hours apart on Jan. 25, 1941. On Saturday, they were honored an hour apart, Killen at 9 a.m. at Graceland Cemetery near Norwood and Humphreys, at 10 a.m. at Mount Zion north of Oakley, as Lucas County's longest-surviving veterans of the Civil War.

Mike Rowley, clad in replica wool on what would turn into one of southern Iowa's hottest days of the summer, and Tom Gaard --- both of the Iowa Division, Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, were down from Des Moines to present the honors. After brief remarks, small metal signs noting the two mens' longevity and service, commissioned by the Sons, were unveiled at both graves.

The simple ceremonies occurred after a night of extremely heavy rain across much of Iowa and White Breast Creek and smaller nearby streams would go out of their banks later in the day --- Highway 65 at Lucas was closed by flooding by evening. But on Saturday morning, rain had ceased, although under a flash-flood warning water had not yet risen and the two beautifully maintained cemeteries were for the most part high and dry. (Information posted earlier about Killen and Humphreys may be found here.)

Graceland, northeast of Norwood in Otter Creek Township, was the Killen family church, although Robert himself was not baptized until age 94. Graceland Church, an early congregation of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (now Community of Christ) was organized at the turn of the 20th century as a mission of the Lucas RLDS Church, which dated from 1877; and the cemetery dates from 1901. The church, open by deed covenant to all who cared to use it when the congregation wasn't gathered, stood just to the north in the center of a quadrangle of catalpa trees planted many years ago by Kate Cackler, an early member. It was torn down during 1972.

Robert left many descendants, and two of his grandsons were present Saturday morning, Jerry Marker (left) and Larry Marker. Mary Sandy (far left) is a niece.

After the ceremony, the group gathered behind the Killen tombstone for a photo and were joined by Gaard, who has coordinated the effort to locate and mark the graves of the last surviving veterans in all Iowa counties.

After Saturday morning's observance at Graceland, Rowley and Gaard drove southeast to Mount Zion Cemetery, on a bluff above White Breast Creek north of Oakley, to place a similar sign at the grave of William Humphreys. Humphreys was an organizer of Mount Zion Primitive Baptist Church, which once stood in the center of the cemetery's circle drive.

William left no descendants, but Don Garrett, commander of Chariton's Carl L. Caviness Post, American Legion, was there, as was a neighbor, Terin Dittmer.

After the unveiling at Mount Zion was complete, Rowley and Gaard headed for Leon, where a similar ceremony was scheduled for Decatur County's longest-surviving veteran; then on to the Hopeville Cemetery southwest of Osceola, for the final program of the day.

What's in a name?

It's gratifying to see that at least one of my names, Daniel, was among the top 10 male names assigned to infants during 2013 --- according to Social Security Administration data. That name has been a fairly consistent achiever, except in 2012 when it dropped to 11th; among the top 10 since at least 2000.

Frank, on the other hand, not so successful. It was 327th in 2013, continuing to slide downward (it was 208th in 2000).

I came by both of these names genealogically. My father was Daniel as was his paternal grandfather. And that grandfather's grandfather was a Daniel, too; although on the maternal side and therefore with a different surname, Dick.

Frank was one of my dad's names, too, honoring a Wyoming uncle, Frank Dent, who was in turn named for Franklin Dunlap, his grandfather and my great-great. It could have been worse. Had one of our mutual names honored my dad's maternal grandfather, we'd have had part of Cassius Marcellus Clay Dent to contend with.

Here are the top 10 male names for 2013, in descending order: Noah, Liam, Jacob, Mason, William, Ethan, Michael, Alexander, Jayden and Daniel. "Jayden" is the true oddity here. It appeared first on the Social Security list during 1994 and no one still is quite sure where it came from.

Here are the top 10 female names: Sophia, Emma, Olivia, Isabella, Ava, Mia, Emily, Abigail, Madison and Elizabeth.

The reasoning behind some of these names escapes me, but it may just be that parents have become increasingly reliant on Social Security data when naming their offspring.

If you want to play the name game yourself, the Social Security data is here.

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It's raining, hard, for the third morning running here. I wish we could share with others who need it more.

Especially since this doesn't bode well for the ceremonies at Mt. Zion and Graceland cemeteries, scheduled for this morning to honor Lucas County's longest-surviving Civil War veterans.

We'll see how that goes, providing the crick don't rise --- and the White Breast is between here and both of the "theres."

"Suzanne," Leonard Cohen --- and Judy

The clap of thunder that accompanied the lightning strike that awoke me at 3-something carried the conviction of a bowling ball that had just rolled down the alley and crashed into the last pin, which is odd and disconcerting because I don't bowl and have never awakened thinking of myself as a bowling pin before.

After accidentally sleeping an extra hour because of that, the mind's blank. Which is why I thought I'd report on an unexpected Leonard Cohen attack last week. Which brought back memories of sitting around in Saigon with Mack, getting drunk and listening to Judy Collins sing "Suzanne," the Irish Rovers and whatever else it was he had on reel-to-reel. He was Irish --- we listened to a lot of Irish. When drunk enough, Mack would sing along.

Mack is dead. Cohen will be 80 on Sept. 21, in case you'd care to send a card. And Judy is 75. The clip at the top is of Cohen himself; the clip below, of Judy Collins and Bill Moyers talking about Cohen and "Suzanne."

There's no religious meaning in Cohen's songs, by the way; only masterful use of the imagery. He's a Jew devoted to Zen who practices what some have described as "Cohenism." But he sure can write a song.

A little Charitone history: Junkin & McCollough

I've had my nose to the grindstone --- sort of --- this week, trying to finish the text for a commemorative book about the Hotel Charitone that will be issued this fall by the Lucas County Preservation Alliance, non-profit partner of Hotel Charitone LLC.

That's involved a good deal of editing and considerable writing, bridging the gaps left by earlier pieces about the grand --- and now fully restored --- old hotel.

I'm not going to publish here, too, but thought it might be interesting to post one of the new chapters dealing with conditions that led to the Charitone's construction in 1923 and the men, William D. Junkin and Henry F. McCollough, who built it.

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William D. Junkin

To understand why the Chariton square was a prime location for a hotel of the Charitone’s scale in 1922-23, it is necessary to know a little about conditions in Lucas County at the time.

The county continued to flourish agriculturally as it had since the first settlers arrived in 1846, combining livestock, grain and hay production in a traditional manner that continued to make it one of Iowa’s top producers.

In addition, the coal industry --- first developed near Lucas during the 1880s --- was booming.

Chariton’s population, which stood at 3,794 in 1910, had by 1920 increased 36 percent --- to 5,175. There was no reason to believe the upward trend would not continue, and it did just that until reaching its peak of 5,754 in 1940.

Henry F. McCollough

The north-south Rock Island Railroad line, completed during the summer of 1913, had turned Chariton into a major transportation hub. It provided both a direct route from the Twin Cities to Kansas City, thus giving the Rock an advantage over the Great Western, then dominant, and also allowed the vast coal fields of northeast Lucas County and southern Marion County to open.

The east-west C.B.&Q. line continued to link Burlington and Omaha, as it had since the late 1860s, and C.B.&Q. spur lines linked Chariton to St. Joseph, Missouri, and Indianola.

The Chariton square was located midway between the C.B.&Q. Depot just northwest of downtown; and the new Rock Island Depot, two blocks east. Much of the nation continued to travel by train. Those who didn’t drove and State Highway 14 and U.S. Highway 34 intersected at the southeast corner of the square.

The legendary Central Iowa Fuel Co. mines beginning just north of Chariton and continuing northeast to Williamson, Tipperary and Olmitz developed after the Rock Island and its spur lines to the mines were completed. In Marion County, Melcher-Dallas also developed into a coal mining center when the Rock Island was complete.

There was a housing boom in Chariton as dozens of compact, white, one-story homes for mining families were constructed --- some, such as those in the area of southeast Chariton known as White City, built by the mining company; many others built by private entrepreneurs.

There were no empty storefronts downtown, businesses flourished and the square was packed on Saturday afternoons and evenings.

As these developments occurred, Chariton’s two principal hotels --- the Depot House, built in 1872 on the second floor of the big C.B.&Q. depot, and the tree-story brick Bates House, a half block west of the square on Braden Avenue, built during 1873, were beginning to show their ages and decline.

It was into this setting that Junkin & McCollough stepped with sufficient backbone and funding  to commission the Charitone.

William D. Junkin, born April 19, 1864, in Fairfield, was a son of William W. Junkin, pioneer editor and publisher of The Fairfield Ledger. He married Vermont Petty during 1893 in Fairfield and they became the parents of two daughters, Kathryn, who died young, and Louise.

After the turn of the 20th Century, William D. and his brothers through various corporate arrangements acquired additional newspapers in Albia, Creston and Corning and added a share of The Chariton Herald to their holdings in 1908.

In 1912, William D. --- then editor and publisher of The Albia Republican --- purchased controlling interest in the merged Herald-Patriot and moved to Chariton to take charge.

The Junkins’ daughter, Louise, met the dashing Henry F. McCollough in Chariton and married him here on July 20, 1918. He was a son of Anna (Gibbon) McCollough/Copeland and her first husband, Ralph McCollough  --- a young man related both by blood and his mother’s second marriage to Josiah C. Copeland to some of Chariton’s most affluent and prominent families. Their marriage was a social highlight of the summer.

After 10 years at the helm of The Herald-Patriot, Junkin became interested in the financial potential of building and operating a modern hotel in Chariton. His interest in the Chariton newspapers became the basis for financing the new enterprise, first in 1922 when some shares were sold and again in 1925, when William D. and his brother, Paul, sold out of the newspaper corporation entirely. It seems likely that Henry McCullough’s family also backed the project, which required an investment in excess of $100,000, although that never was acknowledged publicly.

If contemporary newspaper reports are to be believed, Junkin and McCollough paid G.W. Larimer $24,000 for the hotel lot (including the White Front building), including as part payment another building on the square valued at $16,000.

The men selected as their architect William Lee Perkins, who had practiced in Chariton since 1917.

Perkins, a native of Ridgeway, Missouri, would go on to become one of southern Iowa’s most prominent architects, designing some of Chariton’s most familiar buildings in that process --- City Hall, the American Legion Hall and the Masonic Temple among others.

Junkins knew Perkins well since he had offered the young architect one of his first commissions, the then-innovative Chariton Newspapers building just east of the Charitone along Braden Avenue, constructed during 1917.

It isn’t known when Junkin and McCollough selected the name “Hotel Charitone” or exactly why. The most familiar explanation is that “Charitone” was believed in the 1920s to be the French version of “Chariton.” According to lore, none of which can be documented, a French trader named Chariton or Charitone established a trading post in the late 18th  Century along the Missouri River deep in Missouri, at the mouth of a river named Chariton (minus the “e”) in his honor. That river, of course, rises in southern Iowa, passes through Lucas County and is the source of the city of Chariton’s name.

Excavation for the Charitone’s basement began during late January, 1923, with the intention that the walls of the basement would be completed to ground level before spring rains began.

Some decisions apparently had not yet been made, however, including whether the hotel was to be three or four stories high. It was soon decided to build four stories, but not finish the interior of the fourth floor. An elevator shaft was installed as planned, but an elevator car would not be added until the fourth floor was finished.

As the building began to rise, Henry McCollough enrolled in a hotel management course so that he would prepared when the doors opened.

Shirley, Baby Jean and then (and now) Marilyn

This is my friend Marilyn Smyth Johnson, also curator of the Lucas County Historical Society Museum, who sat down last evening to tell her story --- or at least to talk about a few aspects of 80 years spent for the most part in Lucas County among fascinating people, doing interesting things.

The conversation is part of an historical society oral history project coordinated and conducted by museum intern Karoline Dittmer, who heads off to college this weekend and is finishing up this phase with a flourish that includes several interviews.

These interviews are, or will be, available on DVD at the museum for anyone who wants to look and listen and learn.

I've been especially fascinated for as long as I've known Marilyn by the story of how she came to be in Chariton in the first place --- and she talks a good deal about this in the interview. Her first months were spent at Iowa State University, then Iowa State College, as part of a program that would not even be considered today, but was thought to be quite innovative and progressive at the time.

Marilyn was born during June of 1934 in Des Moines to a birth mother who could not care for her, and so she was placed in custody of the state. Her birth name was Shirley, but that would be temporary.

At the age of three months, during September of 1934, little Shirley was placed in the Ellen H. Richards House at Iowa State College. This was a "home management practice" house where young women enrolled in the Department of Family Environment were expected to gain experience in running a household and raising children. There were four of these houses, each equipped with an infant, at ISU at the time. And Shirley was renamed "Jean" upon arrival.

Six to eight students were assigned to care for Baby Jean and the house on a rotating basis --- new students arrived every six weeks. They became, in effect, surrogate mothers.

Jean lived in the Richards House for a year, cared for by dozens of students, before she was adopted during August of 1935 by Porter J. and Joy Smyth of Chariton, brought home to their lovely and distinctive home on North Grand Street. Porter and Joy gave little Jean a new name, Marilyn --- and that name has endured.

Marilyn had a happy childhood as the treasured only child of older parents and, when she was old enough to understand, Porter and Joy told her that she was adopted and described the circumstances of her first 15 months. 

There was a scrapbook, too, maintained by the students and containing photographs of Baby Jean with her student mothers, at play and on her first birthday; details of her growth and development and the "scientific" schedule her mothers had been expected to adhere to; and some writings by the students themselves.

Marilyn, of course, doesn't remember her first months; only that as a child whose initial exposure was exclusively to young women she was for a time less comfortable with older women and men. 

One of the state workers who made home visits after Marilyn had been placed in Chariton told her parents that the birth mother had been a concert pianist and encouraged piano lessons. Porter and Joy complied, but Marilyn was less enthusiastic. Other than that, Marilyn says, she knows nothing about her birth mother nor has she ever had any interest in finding out more.

She did become interested some years ago, however, in locating other children who had been placed in the Iowa State program and as part of that process took her scrapbook to the University to be placed in its archives. She discovered then that she was the only "home management baby" ever to return or to contact the University. She suspects that most if not all of the other adoptive parents simply never told their children that they were adopted.

Marilyn has, however, visited with a few women who were involved as students in the program, including Charlene (Trumbo) Meyer of Chariton.

There's a good deal more to the interview than this, so stop in and take a look sometime once Karoline gets it processed. Or just stop in and talk to Marilyn.

Give me (and a few others) liberty ...

Note to the headline writers at "The Daily Beast" --- Missouri is not burning, although the situation in Ferguson is awful and no one seems to know what to do to avoid making it worse.

Like many others, I was thinking about Ferguson Sunday morning when one of those odd overprinted images with a message showed up in my Facebook feed. I suspect it was intended as a commentary on social welfare programs.

This one was of Patrick Henry (left), one of our "founding fathers," in an oratorical moment and offered up his famous "Give me liberty or give me death" line with the subtitle, "It wasn't free condoms, food, housing and make my neighbors pay for it."

Well of course it wasn't. I honestly don't know about the condoms, but Patrick had slaves to do his farm work, grow and prepare his food and keep his house tidy. The first six had been a wedding present from his father-in-law upon his first marriage.

It's not clear how many enslaved black folks Henry owned during his lifetime, but there are records of 78 purchases and his property at death included about 65.

Other founding fathers were slave owners on a grander scale, including George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.

By the time of the Revolution, an estimated one-fifth of the colonial population consisted of enslaved black people (who really weren't looked upon as people at all) and the colonial economy south and north was fueled by slave labor.

When Henry arose to deliver his impassioned and famous line, he had white male property owners in mind --- not black people, not indigenous people and certainly not women.

When compared to the tyranny of the slave-based society and economy in which Henry and his counterparts moved, the offenses of the British were minor.

Some years later, roughly 620,000 young men north and south died in a great war that freed those enslaved by their forefathers, dying for their sins; other rights and privileges have been granted, in many cases grudgingly, by white folks as the decades have rolled on.

But we've never really dealt with our racist roots nor acknowledged that racial prejudice is as American as apple pie and in many cases embedded as deeply as it ever has been. Nor do we deal with our own racism, subtle or overt. Until we do, Fergusons will occur.

Lord have mercy.

Lucas County's last men standing to be honored

Frank D. Myers photo

Doris Christensen photo

There's something to be said for coming in first, but ending up as the last man standing is at best a mixed blessing.

In the case of Lucas County's longest-surviving Civil War veterans, however --- William Humphreys and Robert Killen --- the consolation of having a counterpart lasted until the end. Both expired on the same day --- Jan. 25, 1941.

Humphreys, who was 96, died at his home in Oakley. Killen, also 96, died at the home of a daughter at Norwood. Neither endured long illnesses. Pneumonia claimed Humphreys in a week. Killen had been active until an unspecified illness took his life in a few days, too.

Now, some 70 years later, both men will be honored for their longevity --- and service --- during public graveside observances next Saturday, events that are among Civil War sesquicentennial observances conducted by members of the Iowa Division, Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War.

The remembrance for Killen will begin at 9 a.m. Saturday at Graceland Cemetery, located northeast of Norwood at the intersection of two Otter Creek Township gravel roads, 150th and 570th streets. The remembrance for Humphreys will begin at 10 a.m. at Mount Zion Cemetery, located just off the Lacona blacktop north of Oakley. All are welcome to attend, according to Mike Rowley, of the Department of Iowa.

Later in the day, similar observances will be held at noon at the grave of Jonas Hoffhines in the Leon City Cemetery (Decatur County) and at 2 p.m. at the grave of Theodore Yetts in the Hopeville Cemetery, east of Hopeville in Clarke County.

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Killen was a Kentucky native, born during March of 1844 in LaRue County. He enlisted in Co. F, 1st Kentucky Cavalry, during August of 1861 --- when he was 17 --- and served honorably in this and other units (Co. F, 37th Kentucky Infantry, and Co. E, 55th Kentucky Infantry) until discharge on Sept. 19, 1865.

After the war, Killen moved to Marion County, Indiana, where he married Delila Robinson during the mid-1870s and they moved to Lucas County soon thereafter. They had three children before Delila died during 1879. Delila and and an infant son are buried in the Arnold Cemetery, Liberty Township.

 He then married Mary Etta Baker in Lucas County on Aug. 4, 1882, and they became the parents of seven children. She predeceased Robert during 1928.

Although Killen was unaffiliated with any church until baptized at the age of 94, his second wife was a member of Graceland Church, located at the cemetery and a congregation of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (now Community of Christ).

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William Humphreys was born May 6, 1844, near Portsmouth in Scioto County, Ohio. He enlisted on Aug. 2, 1862, when he was 18, as a wagoner in Co. D, 1st Ohio Artillery Battalion, and also served in Co. D, 117th Ohio Infantry, until discharge nearly three years later, on June 20, 1865. 

Two years after the war had ended, William married Mary Jane Caton on Aug. 29, 1867, and they moved west to Lucas County during January of 1872. The Humphreys had no biological children, but adopted Florence Hook when she was 15.

Mary Jane died during 1912 and William married as his second wife Laura Parry, who died during 1930.

He had been active in the organization of Mount Zion Primitive Baptist Church and in construction of its building, so that was where his funeral service and burial occurred.

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Both Killen and Humphreys had long affiliations to varying degrees with the Grand Army of the Republic, an organization of Union veterans designed to close its books when the last surviving veterans died.

Humphreys joined Chariton's Daniel Iseminger Post No. 18 during 1892, but also was affiliated with Lacona Post No. 309. He seems to have been a fairly consistent dues-paying member.

Killen's membership was somewhat more problematic. He joined the Lacona post during 1889, was suspended in 1895, dropped in 1900 and rejected during 1914. 

Both Killen and Humphreys, however, paid their G.A.R. dues on Feb. 2, 1940, and so were in good standing in that dying organization when they marched more or less together off into the sunset less than a year later.

Simple chicken sausage soup

Here's what's for lunch today, cooked up yesterday and enjoyed --- with the balance refrigerated to be reheated as needed. It takes just a few minutes to assemble and can be served after cooking for about an hour, although like most soups it improves with age (within reason).

I used canned tomatoes, but there's no reason fresh couldn't be substituted. This recipe serves four generously; double the ingredients to serve more.

INGREDIENTS

1-2 tablespoons olive oil

2 cloves garlic (sliced, diced, or whatever)

1 12-ounce package of Italian chicken sausage

1 14-ounce can diced tomatoes

1 15-ounce can cannellini beans

2 cups chicken broth

1 package fresh kale

Salt and pepper to taste

METHOD

Place olive oil in a dutch oven, heat to medium and add sliced garlic and sliced chicken sausage. Saute for 10 minutes or so.

Add tomatoes, cannellini beans (drained and rinsed) and chicken broth, mixing well.

Rinse kale well and tear into small pieces, discarding central stems; add to the soup mixture and fold in.

Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for at least an hour, stirring now and then.

The gold standard atop Mount Zion

Lucas County has two Zion cemeteries, which can lead to confusion. One, simply Zion, is located atop a hill in Pleasant Township, east of Williamson, overlooking the Cedar Creek valley. It takes its name from the now-vanished Zion Methodist Episcopal Church, once located north of the cemetery lane.

The other is Mount Zion, named for the equally vanished Mount Zion Primitive Baptist Church that it once contained, located atop a bluff bordering White Breast Creek north of Oakley, or what's left of Oakley.

A tombstone errand took me to the latter Friday, tunneling in through the trees along the lane that commences just north of the White Breast Creek bridge. This lane, once a road that continued west, now turns, climbs and circles the site of the old church.

That was where I discovered gold --- blooming in tall spikes surrounded by intense green.

And lichen, too, gilding a tombstone.

The old hymn tells us that neither silver nor gold hath obtained our redemption, and that's probably true on many levels. But this kind of gold can redeem at least a few minutes.

High noon at the Twilight Tearoom

Fine old rural Iowa school buildings generally run out of luck when declining population forces consolidation, students are moved elsewhere --- and doors are locked.

That hasn't been the case with the Williamson School, fortunately, so it was fun to drive out with others from Chariton Area Chamber/Main Street late Thursday morning for a ribbon-cutting at the Slykhuis Twilight Tearoom.

Those in the ribbon-cutting photo are (from left) Linda Baynes, director of Lucas County Volunteer Services; Scott McLin, Mosaic; Teresa Buckalew, who works at the tearoom; Kris Patrick, Main Street coordinator for Chamber/Main Street; Tina Slykhuis, who with her husband owns building and business; and Courtney Geesaman and Jessica Travis, both of U.S. Bank. I joined the crew after taking my own photos.

We then went inside to see the new first-floor tearoom --- probably the most elegant interior ever developed in English Township. The Slykhuis family converted the gymnasium into an events venue a couple of years ago, so the tearoom is the second phase of three-phase plans for the building. In perhaps a year and a half, according to Tina, the second floor will open as a bed and breakfast operation.

Three of the four classrooms on the 1923 building's first floor now flow together into a reception and dining area. Grand opening celebration luncheons continue here from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. today and Saturday. If you're interested in more about the business, dining opportunities, services offered and the building, check out the tearoom's Web site, located here.

Here's Tina (left) visiting with Linda in the tearoom's reception area (above) and Teresa visiting with Scott (below). Teresa, by the way, is a cousin. And for all the other Miller cousins out there, here's how it goes: Teresa's mom was Mary Elizabeth (Feight) Buckalew/Hockart; Mary Elizabeth's mother was Mary (Abrahamson) Feight; and Mary's mother was our great-aunt, Cynthia (Miller) Abrahamson.

There's another family connection here, too. The Slykhuis family purchased my grandparents' farm just west of Williamson Pond from my Aunt Marie Miller a year ago, and now live there. They also have a farm near Carlisle and previously, when in Williamson, occuped second-floor quarters in the school.

The Williamson School, built in 1923 to a design by Chariton architect William L. Perkins --- and listed on the National Register of Historic Places --- dates from a time when Williamson was a thriving coal mining town with a population many times the current 150 or so. The gymnasium wing to the east was added in 1929.

As both town and rural population began to decline, so did the number of Williamson students. The Class of 1944 was the last at Williamson High School and, in 1959, Williamson was consolidated into the Chariton Community School District. The Williamson School continued to serve as a district elementary building until 1995, when all students were moved into Chariton and the building was passed to the Williamson Historical Society.

The historical society operated the building as a community center for a time, including a library and museum. When it became impractical to continue that operation, the building was sold. I'm thinking the Slykhuis family are its second private owners, but am not quite sure of that.

Whatever the case, it's wonderful to see that the fine old building continues to be maintained, appreciated --- and used.

There's a sucker born every minute ...

You grow up, you look things up in Wikipedia --- and illusions shatter. Darn. Take P.T. Barnum, for example, that great American showman. So far as anyone can determine, he never said "There's a sucker born every minute." But he should have. It's a great line. And assuredly true.

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Ghosts and demons, for example. I was surprised early in the week to note a big uptick in views of a 2011 Lucas Countyan post entitled "House Proud in Garden Grove." 

I'd thrown that one together hurriedly utilizing old snapshots of the since-restored Stearns mansion and Realtor photos of the J.J. McClung house, which had come onto the market recently.

As it turns out tall (and improbable) tales involving a demon, told by a former owner of the Stearns house,  apparently have been incorporated into an episode of a low-budget series called "A Haunting" that seems to be part of a dumbing-of-America television service called "Destination America." Other affiliated programs have titles like, "Hillbilly Blood," "BBQ Pit Wars" and "Armageddon Arsenals." You get the idea.

This episode seems to have been broadcast first over the weekend, and quite a few viewers have then rushed to their computers to Google "Stearns" in some combination of words. Apparently some of them actually take this crap seriously.

Old houses are haunted by failing roofs, dry rot, outdated wiring, rusty plumbing and faulty foundations --- but not by spirits of the deceased --- or demons. Get a clue, people.

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And then yesterday, a video clip purporting to prove that Jesus identified Barack Obama by name as the Antichrist somewhere in the New Testament popped up in my Facebook feed. Just for giggles, I watched it through "Barack" to the start of "Obama." Oh my ...

Sadly, I'm afraid the poor soul who launched this took it seriously. 

The concept of Antichrist has been around for centuries, based upon a couple of New Testament verses that reputable scholars agree have nothing to do with an actual personage. Protestant reformers had a bone to pick with the Vatican, so quite naturally identified a succession of Popes as the Antichrist (some demented Protestants still do).

More recently, religious loons have taken to looking among politicians. I abandoned that train of thought when Ronald Reagan died, but others carry on.

The lovely thing about this, of course, is that it bodes well for Hillary Clinton. She's a woman, you know, and women aren't allowed into positions of authority in the celestial scheme of things. Since the Antichrist obviously will have authority over men, Hillary's off the hook.

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Earlier this summer, somebody stuck a video entitled "Evolution vs. God" between the front doors after I'd inadvertently left the storm door unlocked. I held on to that for a week or so, thinking it might be good for a laugh or two, then finally tossed it after deciding life was too short for such nonsense.

I suspect some religiously-affiliated group purchased these in bulk for distribution, since that's one of the ways the video is being marketed. No idea who, however. Well, actually ....

I did read a review or two, however.

Prepared by an evangelist named Ray Comfort, the video claims to prove that one or another of the creation myths recorded in the Hebrew Bible book of Genesis somehow is factual.

Unfortunately for Comfort, even proponents of creationism among fundamentalist and evangelical scholars were not impressed simply because the video is so poorly done.

Fortunately, for Comfort, there's a sucker born every minute --- as P.T. Barnum didn't say. But he should have.